- © 2005 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
I agree that Canada's prostitution laws need to be revamped, but CMAJ's editorial1 has missed the point. I'm not convinced that changing the laws will actually make people's lives safer. We need to change attitudes. The police in some cities, such as our own (Edmonton), have made great strides in changing how they enforce existing laws, but we need to look internationally for alternatives to current laws (e.g., Sweden).
There are many disadvantages to decriminalizing prostitution. In particular, there doesn't appear to be much thought going into what decriminalized prostitution would look like. For example, what will the Canadian government do to support those who have no choice about entering prostitution and would in fact prefer not to be in “the trade”?
CMAJ has also missed a concern that lies at its own front door: systematic discrimination from doctors and other health care professionals. Having lived within the trade myself for over a decade and having talked with hundreds of women formerly and currently involved in “the life,” I have heard countless stories of judgmental bedside manners by members of the medical profession.
The bottom line is that many women across this country would like to leave the street life, for a variety of reasons. We need to focus on these women and also make it safer for those who choose to remain. We need to get away from the flawed approach of decriminalization, by starting to think about ways of addressing the root causes that lead women to prostitution in the first place.
Reference
- 1.↵